"When a soul is bought and the seller reneges on the deal, a messenger must be sent to ensure the contract is upheld. That messenger is The Harbinger. If you sell your soul to the devil to become the next great rock superstar and then decide its not for you...you just may hear the flapping wings of your own demise. The Harbinger is always near. "

- TMB's description of The Harbinger

The Harbinger was an original character design that was created by TMB as an entry for the Deadly Demons custom toy contest at Figure Realm back in June/July of 2007. TMB won the first place gold trophy with his diabolical masterpiece. The original figure stood about six inches tall and was constructed from a Marvel Legends Showdown Venom (body and legs), Marvel Ghost Rider movie Caretaker (head), and TMNT CG movie Vampire Succubor (arms/wings). Other than stating that they were glued-on additions, TMB did not specify the source of the horns and spikes.

I had a pretty tough time narrowing down the characters I was potentially interested in making for this contest, as there are so many great ones to choose from. After studying many photos and much deliberating (not to mention more than a little procrastination), I finally settled on three candidates: Jin Saotome's "Witch Engine", Mostly Harmless' "The Dastardly Dung Beetle", and TMB's "The Harbinger". I can't really say why (maybe the Devil made me do it?), but I decided to go with the demonic Harbinger over the other two (if I had the time/ambition, I would have liked to have done all three as separate entries). I don't think that I've tried making bat wings on a figure in this particular fashion before (fully integrated into the arm, with the elbow articulation breaking up the wing), so that was interesting and something I might employ again in the future, but, other than that, it was a fairly routine project. I started modeling this figure, from scratch, during the afternoon on the 13th (two days before deadline, like I said, I procrastinate), and finished painting the completed toy with acrylics the following afternoon. My version of The Harbinger stands 1.7 inches tall (with 5/16 of an inch of that height being the horns) and has a maximum wingspan of 3.9 inches. It has 19 points of articulation (neck, shoulders x 2, biceps x 2, elbows x 2, mid-torso, waist, hips x 2, knees x 4, ankles x 2, and feet x 2).

I mostly use bendable wire for articulation, usually twist ties. My figures are fairly similar to marionettes in construction, the wire passes through narrow channels in the body/limbs, and the joints are generally located wherever there's a space between the bits and pieces that comprise the figure's anatomy. I'll occasionally make other types of joints (pivots, peg-and-post, etc.), but they're usually wire.

Alas, all of his horns and spikes would probably snag and snap off if you put him into your pocket (plus it's a medical fact that keeping hellspawn in your pocket for extended periods of time is guaranteed give you testicular cancer).

I give it 5 just because it's Toymaker B's Harbinger and he's one of the LEGENDS of FigureRealm. I remember this contest fondly! Had some really great entries not to mention some awesome comments and puns from some of the greats of old like Deadeye Samurai, Punstarr, Greymonk, Dr. Nightmare and many more...

The figures contained in the Custom Showcase are not for sale by Figure Realm, and the creators of the customs are no way affiliated with Figure Realm. The Custom Showcase is purely for entertainment purposes and only provides a means for the creators to show off their work. Figure Realm does not make or sell customs.